We Have the Right to Know
by DragonLord15
Summary: The Weasley's are worried. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are gone, and they are worried about their safety. Until a mysterious book of Harry's thought arrives at their door. A 'Reading the Deathly Hallows' story. Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters. All belong to J. K. Rowling. ON TEMPORARY HIATUS, WILL BE COMPLETED!
1. Chapter 1

The Burrow was quiet.

Well, not quite. One does not go to the Weasley household if one wishes for solitude. Rather, the sole source of noise came from the crackling fire, illuminating the people gathered around it.

Remus Lupin lounged before the fire, staring at the cracked ceiling. In the plush armchair to his left Bill embraced his wife, her face pressed against his broad shoulder. On the other couch the Weasley family,somehow, all managed to find comfortable places to lounge. Molly's hands ran through Ginny's long, luscious hair, the firelight reflected in her eyes. Arthur too stared at the ceiling, though he looked like it was about to fall on top of him. Fred and George, for once, did not smile. They stared into each other's eyes like two lovers, looking in vain for answers to questions they were too afraid to ask.

Molly sighed, breaking the smothering blanket that had sunk on top of them. "Is anyone hungry? I could make some dinner."

"No thanks, Mum." Bill said, rubbing Fleur's shoulder.

"I'm not very hungry." Ginny said.

Lupin raised his head. "I would take a cup of tea, Molly, if you don't mind."

"Of course, Remus." She stood and hurried into the kitchen, and everyone sat and listened to the banging of pots and the running of water.

In the time Molly returned with a steaming cup of tea, no one had moved. And as she handed the tea to Remus, sprinkled with cinnamon the way he liked it, she huffed. "Really, now, there's no need for this. Nobody's hurt, and just because Harry, Ron, and Hermione are gone doesn't mean we need to act like we are in mourning."

"But they could be in danger, Mum!" Ginny protested. "This worrying is killing me."

Arthur laid a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "We are all worried, hun. But I think your mother is right. It won't help them if we all wasted away thinking about them."

Lupin sat up and rubbed the stubble on his haggard face. "What we need," he mused, "is a distraction."

As if on cue, a knock sounded at the door. Everybody stared at each other, shocked, until Lupin bounded out of the room, wand at the ready. Arthur and Bill likewise ripped out theirs and followed. A few minutes later the group returned, looking thoroughly puzzled.

Lupin dropped the object in his large hands onto the coffee table, and Fleur jumped."A book."

When he said nothing more, Molly prompted, "A book?"

He shrugged. "There was not a living thing besides the bullfrogs out there. We tried multiple spells, but nothing."

Fred scratched his head. "Did you check-"

" for a note, Bill?"

"It could be-"

" a prank of some kind."

Molly frowned at her sons. "Do you always have to do that?"

"Yes. It just-"

" adds to our charm."

They gave their mother wolfish grins as Arthur pulled a piece of paper from the book.

"Ah, there is one, Fred. Good thinking." He cleared his throat and read:

 _Dear friends,_

 _If you are reading this, it means that the events that I feared would happen have come to pass. Voldemort has risen, and I am either dead or unavailable. I have instructed Harry as much as I can, but this letter proves that it is all up to him now. I have no doubt that he has the support of his friends Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, and of course you all. But while Harry cares for you deeply, there are things that he will never willingly share. That is what this book is for. I have seen men driven mad by their unspoken secrets, and I will not see the same thing happen to Harry. Not when he has already suffered so much. This book is in his point of view, and will record events as he sees them. Hopefully it will relieve some of his stress. Time will not flow normally while the book remains open._

 _Nothing that is in the book can be changed. Young Harry's fate was predetermined, and this hunt for Horcruxes is essential for defeating Voldemort._

 _No doubt when Harry hears of this, he will be even more angry than he already is. Please tell him that I did this with his best interest in mind. And that I am sorry._

 _Yours truly,_

 _Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore._

Nobody said anything until Lupin snarled, "He sent them looking for _Horcruxes!?_ Was that man insane?"

Ginny asked, "What's a Horcrux?"

The adults looked at each other. Ginny huffed. "We are old enough to know. You can't protect us from being involved. Harry's my friend, and I will fight for him whether you like it or not."

Arthur held up his hands, warding off her words. "You're right, Ginny. You are all old enough to partake. But if you hadn't jumped to conclusions, you would already have known that."

Her face flushed. "Sorry."

George reached for the book. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." He glanced up. "Should I start?"

Everyone took a seat. George cleared his throat, and began to read.


	2. Chapter 2

" **A Place to Hide."** George looked up at his attentive audience. "I think this is just after the wedding tonight."

"Oh, I do hope they are alright," Molly murmured.

Arthur laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Only one way to find out." He nodded at George to continue.

 **Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet ad drew their wands. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat at it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.**

"Sorry," Fleur said, flushed. "That was me."

Bill rubbed her back. "It's okay, dear. No one blames you." He glared at everyone, daring them to challenge his words. No one did.

 **Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd. Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.**

 **"Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"**

 **As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Harry saw cloaked and masked figures appear in the crowd; then he saw Lupin and Tonks, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout** _ **'Protego!'**_ **, a cry that was echoed on all sides-**

 **"Ron! Ron!" Hermione called, half sobbing as she and Harry were buffeted by terrified guests: Harry seized her hand to make sure they weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective or something sinister he did not know-**

 **And then Ron was there.** "Thank goodness." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. **He caught hold of Hermione's free arm, and Harry felt her turn on the spot; sight and sound were extinguished as darkness pressed in upon him; all he could feel was Hermione's hand as he was squeezed through space and time, away from the Burrow, away from descending Death Eaters, away, perhaps, from Voldemort himself…**

"I'm very thankful that all we had to deal with was a couple of cronies." Fred said. "Imagine if You-Know-Who had actually-"

Ginny raised her hand. "Fred, stop. You're scaring Mum."

"I'm alright, dear." Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Please continue, George," Lupin said.

 **"Where are we?" said Ron's voice.**

 **Harry opened his eyes. For a moment he thought they had not left the wedding after all; they still seemed to be surrounded by people.**

 **"Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."**

"Smart, Hermione, taking them to the muggle world." Lupin commented. "Though how much safer they really are is yet to be seen."

"You think they could be attacked in public?" Arthur questioned.

Bill shrugged. "Things are changing, Dad. They might risk being seen to have a chance to grab Harry."

 **Harry did as she asked. They half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revelers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above them. A double-decker bus rumbled by and a group of merry pub-goers ogled them as they passed; Harry and Ron were still wearing dress robes.**

Ginny snorted. "I bet. If I was a muggle, I would have thought they were bonkers."

 **"Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into," Ron told her, as a young woman burst into raucous giggles at the sight of him.**

 **"Why didn't I make sure I had the Invisibility Cloak with me?" said Harry, inwardly cursing his own stupidity. "All last year I kept it on me and-"**

"Wait a second!" George screamed. "That git has an Invisibility Cloak?!"

"And he never told us?!"

"We could have gotten away with-"

"so many pranks!?"

Molly gazed at them sternly. "Well, I'm glad Harry never told you. Saved me from having to spend money sending more Howlers."

The twins gulped.

 **"It's okay, I've got the Cloak, I've got clothes for both of you," said Hermione, "just try and act naturally until-this will do." She led them down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.**

 **"When you say you've got the Cloak, and clothes…" said Harry, frowning at Hermione, who was carrying nothing except her small beaded handbag, in which she was now rummaging.**

Ginny sighed. "I've always loved that handbag. It's so pretty."

Fred leaned in close and said with a suggestive grin, "Maybe Harry will get you one."

A moment later Fred howled with pain as Ginny clawed him across the face.

"Children, enough," Arthur said, and both Weasleys stopped, but not before Ginny stuck out her tongue at her brother.

 **"Yes, they're here," said Hermione, and to Harry and Ron's utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.**

 **"How the ruddy hell-?"**

 **"Undetectable Extension Charm," said Hermione.** Lupin nodded his approval. **"Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; anyway, I managed to fit everything we need in here." She gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books," she said, peering into it, "and I had them all stacked by subject...Oh,well...Harry you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change…"**

Molly sighed with defeat. "I suppose that there was no use trying to prevent them leaving if Hermione had all that stuff packed anyway."

Arthur patted her arm. "It's the thought that counts, dear."

 **"When did you do all this?" Harry asked as Ron stripped of his robes.**

 **"I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days, you know, in case we needed to make a quick getaway. I packed your rucksack this morning, Harry, after you changed, and put it in here...I just had a feeling…"**

 **"You're amazing, you are," said Ron handing her his bundled-up robes."**

"Aww, little Ronniekinz is in luuuv." chimed the twins. No one bothered to object.

 **"Thank you," said Hermione, managing a small smile as she pushed the robes into the bag. "Please, Harry, get that Cloak on!"**

 **Harry threw his Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders and pulled it up over his head, vanishing from sight. He was only just beginning to appreciate what had happened.**

 **"The others-everybody at the wedding-"**

"Harry shouldn't worry about us," Bill commented. "It'll take more than a few Death Eaters to handle us."

 **"We can't worry about that now," whispered Hermione. "It's you they're after, Harry, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back."**

"I hate to say it, but Hermione's right," Arthur announced. "Though I'd gladly hide him, there is a chance that the Death Eaters come back looking for him here. He's safer away."

Ginny mumbled under her breath, "That doesn't mean I like it that way."

 **"She's right," said Ron, who seemed to know that Harry was about to argue, even if he could not see his face. "Most of the Order was there, they'll look after everyone." Harry nodded, then remembered that they could not see him, and said, "Yeah." But he thought of Ginny, and fear bubbled like acid in his stomach.**

Ginny's face flushed as everyone cooed.

"Ah, young love," said George, just barely avoiding a swipe at his head.

 **"Come one, I think we ought to keep moving," said Hermione.**

 **They moved back up the side street and onto the main road again, where a group of men on the opposite side was singing and weaving across the pavement.**

Fleur wrinkled her nose. "Disgusting drunks."

 **"Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked Hermione.**

 **"I've no idea, it just popped into my head, but I'm sure we're safer out in the Muggle world, it's not where they'll expect us to be."**

 **"True," said Ron, looking around, "but don't you feel a bit-exposed?"**

 **"Where else is there?" asked Hermione, cringing as the men on the other side of the road started wolf-whistling at her."**

"If I was there," Lupin growled, "I'd showed them what a real wolf sounded like."

 **"We can hardly boo rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Snape can get in there…"**

 **"I suppose we could try my parents' home, though I think there's a chance they might check there… Oh, I wish they'd shut up!"**

 **"All right, darling?" the drunkest of the men on the other pavement was yelling. "Fancy a drink? Ditch ginger and come and have a pint!"**

Everyone in the room growled, none more than Ginny.

"I'm getting a little hungry. Are you, Bill?"

Bill nodded. "Sure thing, Lupin."

"Now, boys. Tearing apart sexist pigs-"

"-is frowned upon in this society."

"And might cause some people-"

"-to have some indigestion."

 **"Let's sit down somewhere," Hermione said hastily as Ron opened his mouth to shout back across the road. "Look, this will do, in here!"**

 **It was a small and shabby all-night cafe, A light layer of grease lay on all the Formica-topped tables, but it was at least empty. Harry slipped into a booth first and Ron sat next to him opposite Hermione, who had her back to the entrance and did not like it: she appeared to have a twitch. Harry did not like being stationary; walking had given the illusion that they had a goal. Beneath the Cloak he cold feel the last vestiges of Polyjuice leaving him, his hands returning to their usual length and shape. He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and put them on again.**

 **After a minute or two, Ron said, "You know, we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here, it's only in Charing Cross-"**

Bill shook his head. "Not a good idea. That place is full of malevolent eyes and ears. They would be caught before they even finished their Butterbeers."

 **"Ron, we can't!" said Hermione at once.**

 **"Not to stay there, but to find out what's going on!"**

 **"We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know!"**

Ginny hissed, "Shut up, Hermione!"

 **"Okay, okay, it was just an idea!"**

 **They relapsed into a prickly silence. The gum-chewing waitress shuffled over and Hermione ordered two cappuccinos: As Harry was invisible, it would have looked odd to order him one. A pair of burly workmen entered the cafe and squeezed into the next booth. Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper.**

 **"I say we find a quiet place to Disapparate and head for the countryside. Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."**

 **"Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?" asked Ron.**

Fred shook his head. "Of course she can, Ron. After all she is the-"

"-brightest witch of her age."

Ginny snapped. "Can you stop that?!"

The twins looked at each other and grinned at her. "Nope."

 **"I've been practicing and I think so," said Hermione.**

 **"Well, as long as it doesn't get them into trouble, though they might've been arrested already. God, that's revolting," Ron added after one sip of the foamy, grayish coffee. The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customer's' orders. The larger of the two workmen, who was blond and quite huge, now that Harry had the chance to look at him, waved her away. She stared, affronted.**

 **"Let's get going, then, I don't want to drink this muck," said Ron. "Hermione, have you got any Muggle money to pay for this?"**

 **"Yes, I took out all my Building Society savings before I came to the Burrow. I'll bet all the change is at the bottom," sighed Hermione, reaching for her beaded bag.**

 **The two workmen made identical movements, and Harry mirrored them without conscious thought: All three of them drew their wands.**

Molly gasped. "Oh, no! How did they find them!?"

 **Ron, a few seconds late in realizing what was going on, lunged across the table, pushing Hermione sideways onto her bench. The force of the Death Eater's spells shattered the tiled wall where Ron's head had just been, as Harry, still invisible, yelled, "Stupefy!"**

 **The great blond Death Eater was hit in the face by a jet of red light: He slumped sideways, unconscious. His companion, unable to see who had cast the spell, fired another at Ron: Shining black ropes flew from his wand-tip and bound Ron head to foot-the waitress screamed and ran for the door-Harry sent another Stunning Spell at the Death Eater with the twisted face who had tied up Ron, but the spell missed, rebounded on the window, and hit the waitress, who collapsed in front of the door.**

Arthur shrugged. "Better her unconscious than alerting everyone in the street, wizard and Muggle, what was going on."

No one could argue with that logic.

 **"Expulso!" bellowed the Death Eater, and the table behind which Harry was standing blew up: The force of the explosion slammed into the wall and he felt his wand leave his hand as the Cloak slipped off him.**

 **"Petrificus Totalus!" screamed Hermione from out of sight, and the Death Eater fell forward like a statue to land with a crunching thud on the mess of broken china, table, and coffee.** Everyone winced. **Hermione crawled out from underneath the bench, shaking bits of glass ashtray out of her hair, and trembling all over.**

 **"D-diffindo," she said, pointing her wand at Ron, who roared in pain as she slashed open the knee of his jeans, leaving a deep cut. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron, my hand's shaking! Diffindo!"**

Fleur grimaced. "Poor Hermione. It's hard to control your movements with all that adrenaline pumping through you."

 **The severed ropes fell away. Ron got to his feet, shaking his arms to regain feeling in them. Harry picked up his wand and climbed over all the debris to where the large blond Death Eater was sprawled across the bench.**

 **"I should've recognized him, he was there the night Dumbledore died," he said. He turned over the darker Death Eater with his foot; the man's eyes moved rapidly between Harry, Ron, and Hermione.**

 **"That's Dolohov," said Ron. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle."**

 **"Never mind what they're called!" said Hermione a little hysterically. "How did they find us? What are we going to do?"**

 **Somehow her panic seemed to clear Harry's head.**

"Harry's had a lot of practice with that." George said.

 **"Lock the door," he told her, "and Ron, turn out the lights,"**

 **He looked down at the paralyzed Dolohov, thinking fast as the lock clicked and Ron used the Deluminator to plunge the cafe into darkness. Harry could hear the men who had jeered at Hermione earlier, yelling at another girl in the distance.**

 **"What are we going to do with them?" Ron whispered to Harry through the dark; then, even more quietly, "Kill them? They had a good go just now."**

Everyone stilled. Then Molly whispered with horror, "No Ron. You can't."

Lupin's brow furrowed. "I hate to say it, but that would be the smart thing to do. It would cover their tracks."

Molly spun to him. "You want my son to become a murderer!?"

Bill said, "Mum, we are at war. And wars have casualties."

Molly spun away from Lupin, though the group pretended not to notice the heaving sobs as she leaned into her husband.

 **Hermione shuddered and took a step backward.**

 **Harry shook his head. "We just need to wipe their memories," said Harry. "It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them it'd be obvious we were here."**

 **"You're the boss," said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. "But I've never down a Memory Charm."**

"Well, he's definitely learned how not to do it," said Ginny, remembering Lockhart.

 **"Nor have I," said Hermione. "But I know the theory."**

 **She took a deep calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov's forehead and said, "Obliviate."**

 **At once, Dolohov's eyes became unfocused and dreamy.**

 **"Brilliant!" said Harry, clapping her on the back. "Take care of the other one and the waitress while Ron and I clear up."**

 **"Clear up?" said Ron, looking around at the partly destroyed cafe. "Why?"**

 **"Don't you think they might wonder what's happened if they wake up and find themselves in a place that looks like it's just been bombed?"**

 **"Oh right, yeah…"**

 **Ron struggled for a moment before managing to extract his wand from his pocket.**

 **"It's no wonder I can't get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they're tight."**

 **"Oh, I'm so sorry," hissed Hermione, and as she dragged the waitress out of sight of the windows, Harry heard her mutter a suggestion as to where Ron could stick his wand instead.**

The room erupted with laughter, even Molly, though she looked shocked at the suggestion.

 **Once the cafe was restored to its previous condition, they heaved the Death Eaters back into their booth and propped them up facing each other.**

 **"But how did they find us?" Hermione asked, looking from one inert man to the other. "How did they know where we were?"**

 **She turned to Harry.**

 **""You-you don't think you've still got you Trace on you, do you, Harry."**

"Impossible. That kind of magic can't be removed or put on by anyone, even the Ministry."

 **"He can't have," said Ron. "The Trace breaks at seventeen, that's Wizarding law, you can't put it on an adult."**

 **"As far as you know," said Hermione. "What if the Death Eaters have found a way to put it on a seventeen-year-old?"**

 **"But Harry hasn't been near a Death Eater in the last twenty-four hours. Who's supposed to have put a Trace back on him?"**

 **Hermione did not reply. Harry felt contaminated, tainted: Was that really how the Death Eaters had found them?**

 **"If I can't use magic, and you can't use magic near me, without us giving away our position-" he began.**

 **"We're not splitting up!" said Ron. "Give us time to think things through."**

 **"Grimmauld Place," said Harry.**

Ginny frowned. "But can't Snape get in there?"

Bill replied, "It doesn't look like they have much of a choice."

 **The other two gaped.**

 **"Don't be silly, Harry, Snape can get in there!"**

 **"Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him-and even if they haven't worked," he pressed on as Hermione began to argue, "so what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!"**

"Oh, Harry, don't go looking for a fight!" moaned Molly.

 **"But-"**

 **"Hermione, where else is there? It's the best chance we've got. Snape's only one Death Eater. If I've still got the Trace on me, we'll have whole crowds of them on us wherever else we go."**

 **She could not argue, though she looked as if she would have liked to. While she unlocked the cafe door, Ron clicked the Deluminator to release the cafe's light. Then, on Harry's count of thee, they reversed the spells upon their three victims, and before the waitress or either of the Death Eaters could do more than stir sleepily, Harry, Ron and Hermione had turned on the spot and vanished into the compressing darkness once more.**

 **Seconds later Harry's lungs expanded gratefully and he opened his eyes: They were no standing in the middle of a familiar small and shabby square. Tall, dilapidated houses looked down on them from every side. Number twelve was visible to them, for Dumbledore, its Secret-Keeper, had told them of its existence and they rushed toward it, checking every few yards that they were not being followed or observed. They raced up the stone steps, and Harry tapped the front door once with his eand. They heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and they hurried over the threshold.**

"Well, that's not creepy." said Fred.

 **As Harry closed the door behind them, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as Harry remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed, the outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall throwing odd shadows up the staircase. Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius's mother. The only thing that was out of place was the troll's leg umbrella stand, which was lying on its side as if Tonks had just knocked it over again.**

Lupin snorted.

 **"I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it.**

 **"That could've happened as the Order left," Ron murmured back.**

 **"So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?" Harry asked.**

 **"Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?" suggested Ron.**

 **Yet they remained close together on the doormat, backs against the door, scared to move farther into the house.**

 **"Well, we can't stay here forever," said Harry, and he took a step forward.**

 **"Severus Snape?"**

 **Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making all three of them jump back in fright. "We're not Snape!" croaked Harry, before something whooshed over him like cold air and his tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak. Before he had time to feel inside his mouth, however, his tongue had unraveled again.**

 **The other two seemed to have experienced the same unpleasant sensation. Ron was making retching noises; Hermione stammered," that m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying curse Mad-Eye set for Snape!"**

 **Gingerly Harry took another step forward. Something shifted in the shadows at the end of the hall, and before any of them could say another word, a figure had risen up out of the carpet, tall, dust colored, and terrible; Hermione screamed and so did Mrs. Black, her curtains flying open; the gray figure was gliding toward them, faster and faster, it's waist-length hair and bread streaming behind it, its face sunken, fleshless, with empty eye sockets: Horribly familiar, dreadfully altered, it raised a wasted arm, pointing at Harry.**

"WHAT THE HELL?" Ginny and the twins yelled. Everyone else retched at the description.

 **"No!" Harry shouted, and though he had raised his wand no spell occurred to him. "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you-"**

 **On the word kill, the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust: Coughing, his eyes watering, Harry looked around to see Hermione crouched on the floor by the door with her arm over her head, and Ron, who was shaking from head to foot, patting her clumsily on the shoulder and saying, "It's all r-right...It's g-gone…" Dust swirled around Harry like mist, catching the blue gaslight, as Mrs. Black continued to scream.**

 **"Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonor, taint of shame on the house of my fathers-"**

 **"SHUT UP!" Harry bellowed, directing his wand at her, and with a bang and a burst of red sparks, the curtains swung shut again, silencing her.**

Fred winced. "One must not forget that Harrykinz has a temper."

 **"That...that was…" Hermione whimpered, as Ron helped her to her feet.**

 **"Yeah," said Harry, "but it wasn't really him, was it? Just something to scare Snape."**

 **Had it worked, Harry wondered, or had Snape already blasted the horror figure aside as casually as he had killed the real Dumbledore? Nerves still tingling, he led the other two up the hall, half-expecting some new terror to reveal itself, but nothing moved except for a mouse skittering along the skirting board.**

 **"Before we go any farther, I think we'd better check," whispered Hermione, and she raised her wand and said, "Homenum revelio."**

 **Nothing happened.**

Everyone sighed with relief.

 **"Well, you've just had a big shock," said Ron kindly. "What was that supposed to do?"**

 **"It did what I meant it to do!" said Hermione rather crossly. "That was a spell to reveal human presence, and there's nobody here except us!"**

 **"And old Dust," said Ron, glancing at the patch of carpet from which the corpse-figure had risen.**

 **"Let's go up," said Hermione with a frightened look at the same spot, and she led the way up the creaking stairs to the drawing room on the first floor.**

 **Hermione waved her wand to ignite the old gas lamps, then, shivering slightly in the drafty room, she perched on the sofa, her arms wrapped tightly around her. Ron crossed to the window and moved the heavy velvet curtains aside an inch.**

 **"Can't see anyone out there," he reported. "And you'd think, if Harry still had a Trace on him, they'd have followed us here. I know they can't get in the house, but-what's up Harry?"**

 **Harry had given a cry of pain: His scar had burned again as something flashed across his mind like a bright light on water. He saw a large shadow and felt a fury that was not his own pound through his body, violent and brief as an electric shock.**

Lupin growled. "I thought the connection had closed. He shouldn't be able to feel these things."

Arthur sighed. "I don't know, Lupin. I just don't know anymore."

 **"What did you see?" Ron asked, advancing on Harry. "Did you see him at my place?"**

 **"No, I just felt anger-he's really angry-"**

 **"But that could be at the Burrow," Ron said loudly. "What else? Didn't you see anything? Was he cursing someone?"**

 **"No, I just felt anger-I couldn't tell-"**

Ginny snarled. "Lay off him Ron, geez!"

 **Harry felt badgered, confused, and Hermione did not help as she said in a frightened voice, "You're scar, again? But what's going on? I thought that the connection had closed!"**

 **"It did, for a while," muttered Harry; his scar was still painful, which made it hard to concentrate. "I-I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control, that's how it used to-"**

 **"But then you've got to close your mind!" said Hermione shrilly. "Harry, Dumbledore didn't want you to use that connection, he wanted you to shut it down, that's why you were supposed to use Occlumency! Otherwise Voldemort can plant false images in your mind, remember-"**

 **"Yeah, I do remember, thanks," said Harry through gritted teeth; he did not need Hermione to tell him that Voldemort had once used this same connection between them to lead him into a trap, nor that it had resulted in Sirius's death.**

Bill face-palmed. "Hermione, you can really be insensitive sometimes."

Molly rubbed her hands. "I wish they would stop fighting. They need each other, more than they know."

 **He wished that he had not told them what he had seen and felt;** "Oh, Harry, they are only trying to help," said Fleur. **It made Voldemort more threatening, as though he were pressing against the window of the room, and still the pain in his scar was building and he fought it: It was like resisting the urge to be sick.**

 **He turned his back on Ron and Hermione, pretending to examine the old tapestry of the Black family tree on the wall. Then Hermione shrieked: Harry drew his wand again and spun around to see a silver Patronus soar through the drawing room window and land upon the floor in front of them, where it solidified into the weasel that spoke with the voice of Ron's father. "Family safe, do not reply, we are being watched."**

Arthur sighed. "At least they know we are okay."

 **The Patronus dissolved into nothingness. Ron let out a noise between a whimper and a groan and dropped onto the sofa: Hermione joined him, gripping his arm. "They're all right, they're all right!" she whispered, and Ron half laughed and hugged her.**

 **"Harry," he said over Hermione's shoulder, "I-"**

 **"It's not a problem," said Harry, sickened by the pain in his head. "It's your family, 'course you were worried. I'd feel the same way." He thought of GInny. "I do feel the same way."**

GInny blushed a deep red as she caught the twins' gaze. "Bugger off!"

 **The pain in his scar was reaching a peak, burning as it had back in the garden of the Burrow. Faintly he heard Hermione say, "I don't want to be on my own. Could we bring the sleeping bags I've brought and camp in here tonight?" He heard Ron agree. He could not fight the pain much longer. He had to succumb.**

 **"Bathroom," he muttered, and he left the room as fast as he could without running. He barely made it: Bolting the door behind him with trembling hands, he grasped his pounding head and fell to the floor, then in an explosion of agony, he felt the rage that did not belong to him posses his soul, saw a long room lit only by firelight, and the giant blond Death Eater on the floor, screaming and writhing, and a slighter figure standing over him, want outstretched, while Harry spoke in a high, cold, merciless voice.**

 **"More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort it not sure that he will forgive this time...You called me back for this, to tell me that Harry Potter has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure...Do it, or feel my wrath yourself!"**

 **A log fell in the fire: Flames reared, their light darting across a terrified, pointed white face-with a sense of emerging from deep water, Harry drew heaving breaths and opened his eyes.**

George paused, and everyone looked at each other, sickened.

"I knew he had visions," Lupin began, rubbing his face, "but I never knew-"

"It's horrible!" Molly cried. "This shouldn't happen to him, to anyone!"

Shaken, George continued.

 **He was spread-eagle on the cold black marble floor, his nose inches from one of the silver serpent tails that supported the large bathtub. He sat up. Malfoy's gaunt, petrified face seemed burned on the inside of his eyes. Harry felt sickened by what he had seen, by the use to which Voldemort was now putting Draco.**

 **There was a sharp rap on the door, and Harry jumped as Hermione's voice rang out.**

 **"Harry, do you want your toothbrush? I've got it here."**

 **"Yeah, great, thanks," he said, fighting to keep his voice casual as he stood up to let her in.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Want me to read, George?"

"Sure," he said, handing the book to his twin.

. **Harry woke early next morning, wrapped in a sleeping bag on the drawing room floor.**

 **A chink of sky was visible between the heavy curtains. It was the cool, clear blue of watered ink, somewhere between night and dawn, and everything was quiet except for Ron and Hermione's slow, deep breathing. Harry glanced over at the dark shapes they made on the floor beside him. Ron had had a fit of gallantry and insisted that Hermione sleep on the cushions from the sofa, so that her silhouette was raised above his. Her arm curved to the floor, her ringers inches from Ron's. Harry wondered whether they had fallen asleep holding hands. The idea made him feel strangely lonely.**

"I knew it!" Ginny shouted, pointing at the twins. "Pay up!"

Grumbling, Fred and George handed over their money, and Ginny accepted it with glee. "You too, Mum."

Arthur looked at Molly in astonishment as she, red-faced, handed Ginny a handful of coins. "You bet on our son?"

Molly shrugged, embarrassed, as Lupin and Tonks burst into laughter.

 **He looked up at the shadowy ceiling, the cobwebbed chandelier. Less than twenty-four hours ago, he had been standing in the sunlight at the entrance to the marquee, waiting to show in wedding guests. It seemed a lifetime away.**

 **What was going to happen now? He lay on the floor and he thought of the Horcruxes, of the daunting complex mission Dumbledore had left him…**

"There's that word again!" George said. "What does it mean?"

Everyone turned to Lupin, who sighed deeply. "A Horcrux…" he began slowly, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "Is an inanimate object that a wizard can put a piece of his soul into. If his real body were to be killed, the soul in the object would live on. In an essence, he would be immortal."

Tonks gasped. "How does one make a Horcrux?"

"You have to take a life to split your soul."

Everyone sat, horrified at the idea of a soul splitting in half.

Bill eventually asked, "How many does Voldemort have?"

"One Horcrux is bad enough. It seems Voldemort has several."

Face pale, Bill leaned back and gripped Fleur to his side.

 **Dumbledore….the grief that had possessed him since Dumbledore's death felt different now. The accusations he had heard from Muriel at the wedding seemed to have nested in his brain like diseased things, infecting his memories of the wizard he had idolized. Could Dumbledore have let such things happen? Had he been like Dudley, content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him?**

"The bloody bastard!"

Arthur stood shaking his fist at nothing in particular, ignoring his wife's cry of shock. "How dare Muriel mess with his mind like that! He had no right to say whatever he said to Harry!"

Lupin stood and guided Arthur down. "I agree, Arthur. But what is done is done. We can't go back and change it." He paused. "Dumbledore was not perfect. Whether he was fully aware of Harry's situation or not, we will never know. Let not the seed of doubt be planted in us as well."

Arthur sighed, calm once more. "You're right, Remus. Dumbledore was not a saint, but he cared for Harry. This much we know to be true."

 **Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden? Harry thought of Godric's Hollow, of graves Dumbledore had never mentioned there; he thought of mysterious objects left without explanation in Dumbledore's will, and resentment swelled in the darkness. Why hadn't Dumbledore told him? Why hadn't he explained? Had Dumbledore actually cared about Harry at all? Or had Harry been nothing more than a tool to be polished and honed, but not trusted, never confided in?"**

"Does he think like this all the time?"

 **Harry could not stand lying there with nothing but bitter thoughts for company.**

"Thank goodness. That kid can seriously brood." Tonks said. Nobody disagreed.

 **Desperate for something to do, for distraction, he slipped out of his sleeping bag, picked up his wand, and crept out of the room.**

"Bet Hermione freaks out when she wakes up and sees that his is gone," George said, smiling.

 **On the landing he whispered, "Lumos," and started to climb the stairs by wand light. On the second landing was the bedroom in which he and Ron had slept last time they had been here; he glanced into it. The wardrobe doors stood open and the bedclothes had been ripped back. Harry remembered the overturned troll leg downstairs. Somebody had searched the house since the Order had left.**

"It actually wasn't me this time," Tonks said. "I wasn't even there."

 **Snape? Or perhaps Mundungus, who had pilfered plenty from this house both before and after Sirius died? Harry's gaze wandered to the portrait that sometimes contained Phineas Nigellus Black, Sirius's great- great grandfather, but it was empty, showing nothing but a stretch of muddy backdrop. Phineas Nigellus was evidently spending the night in the headmaster's study at Hogwarts. Harry continued up the stairs until he reached the topmost landing where there were only two doors. The one facing him bore a nameplate reading Sirius.**

 **Harry had never entered his godfather's bedroom before. He pushed open the door, holding his wand high to cast light as widely as possible. The room was spacious and must once had been handsome. There was a large bed with a carved wooden headboard, a tall window obscured by long velvet curtains and a chandelier thickly coated in dust with candle scrubs still resting in its sockets, solid was hanging in frost like drips. A fine film of dust covered the pictures on the walls and the bed's headboard; a spider's web stretched between the chandelier and the top of the large wooden wardrobe, and as Harry moved deeper into the room, he heard a scurrying of disturbed mice. The teenage Sirius had plastered the walls with so many posters and pictures that little of the wall's silvery-gray silk was visible. Harry could only assume that Sirius's parents had been unable to remove the Permanent Sticking Charm that kept them on the wall because he was sure they would not have appreciated their eldest son's taste in decoration.**

Lupin grinned, shaking his head. "That's for sure!"

"Why?" Ginny asked.

Lupin chuckled. "You'll see."

 **Sirius seemed to have long gone out of his way to annoy his parents. There were several large Gryffindor banners; faded scarlet and gold just to underline his difference from all the rest of the Slytherin family. There were many pictures of Muggle motorcycles, and also( Harry had to admire Sirius's nerve) several posters of bikini-clad Muggle girls.**

Fred and George snickered. "Mum maybe we should change the scenery in out room. It feels a little outdated."

""IF YOU DO ANYTHING OF THE SORT, YOU WILL SPEND THE REST OF YOUR DAYS CLEANING OUT THE TOILETS!"

The twins flinched away from their mother's anger. Molly's face was red; heat seemed to roll of her in waves, and everyone could almost see smoke sprouting from her ears.

Fred, wisely, continued reading.

 **Harry could tell that they were Muggles because they remained quite stationary within their pictures, faded smiles and glazed eyes frozen on paper. This was in contrast to the only Wizarding photograph on the walls, which was a picture of four Hogwarts students standing arm in arm, laughing at the camera. With a leap of pleasure, Harry recognized his father, his untidy black hair stuck up at the back like Harry's, and he too wore glasses.**

Lupin smiled sadly.

 **Beside him was Sirius, carelessly handsome, his slightly arrogant face so much younger and happier than Harry had ever seen it alive. To Sirius's right stood Pettigrew, more than a head shorter, plump and watery-eyed, flushed with pleasure at his inclusion in this coolest of gangs, with the much admired rebels that James and Sirius had been. On James's left was Lupin, even then a little shabby-looking, but he had the same air of delighted surprise at finding himself liked and included or was it simply because Harry knew how it had been, that he saw these things in the picture? He tried to take it from the wall; it was now, after all, Sirius had left him everything, but it would not budge. Sirius had left him everything, but it would not budge. Sirius had taken no chances in preventing his parents from redecorating his room.**

 **Harry looked around at the floor. The sky outside was growing brighter. A shaft of light revealed bits of paper, books, and small objects scattered over Sirius's bedroom had been reached too, although its contents seemed to have been judged mostly, if not entirely, worthless. A few of the books had been shaken roughly enough to part company with the covers and sundry paes littered the floor.**

 **Harry bent down, picked up a few of the pieces of paper, and examined them. He recognized one as a part of an old edition of A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, and another as belonging to a motorcycle maintenance manual. The third was handwritten and crumpled. He smoothed it out.**

 **Dear Padfoot,**

 **Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present!**

Ginny smiled softly. She knew how much Harry longed for the family he has never known. She also wasn't sure they should be reading this; it was personal, after all.

 **It was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself. I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground but ne nearly killed the cat-** Ginny jumped. She loved cats. **-and she smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas ( no complaints there). Of course James thought it was so funny, says he's going to be a great Quidditch player but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going.**

Ginny chuckled. If only they knew.

 **We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda who has always been sweet to us and who dotes on Harry. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and Harry's not old enough to know it's his birthday anyway!**

 **James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell- also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend. I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.**

Arthur squeezed Molly, who buried her head in his shoulder. "We all did.

 **Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore. I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore-"**

Fred paused. "The letter ended." He continued.

 **Harry's extremities seemed to have gone numb. He stood quite still, holding the miraculous paper in his nerveless fingers while inside him a kind of quiet eruption sent joy and grief thundering its equal measure through his veins.**

Everyone's face fell, pity clawing at their hearts.

 **Lurching to the bed, he sat down. He read the letter again, but could not take in any more meaning than he had done the first time, and was reduced to staring at the handwriting itself. She had made her "g's" the same way he did. He searched through the letter for every one of them, and each felt like a friendly little wave glimpsed from behind a veil. The letter was an incredible treasure, proof that Lily Potter had lived, really lived, that her warm hand had once moved across this parchment, tracing ink into these letters, these words, words about him, Harry, her son.**

"You meant everything to her, Harry," Lupin choked.

 **Impatiently brushing away the wetness in his eyes, he reread the letter, this time concentrating on the meaning. It was like listening to a half-remembered voice.**

 **They had a cat...perhaps it had perished, like his parents at Godric's Hollow...or else fled when there was nobody left to feed it...Sirius had bought him his first broomstick...His parents had known Bathilda Bagshot; had Dumbledore introduced them? Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak...there was something funny there…**

 **Harry paused, pondering his mother's words. Why had Dumbledore taken James's Invisibility Cloak? Harry distinctly remembered his headmaster telling him years before, "I don't need a cloak to become invisible." Perhaps some less gifted Order member had needed its assistance, and Dumbledore had acted as a carrier?**

Bill and Lupin looked at each other. They agreed with Harry; something was off.

 **Harry passed on…**

 **Wormy was here...Pettigrew, the traitor, had seemed "down" had he? Was he aware that he was seeing James and Lily alive for the last time?**

Lupin growled, and Tonks wrapped her arms around his chest, restraining him.

 **And finally Bathilda again, who told incredible stories about Dumbledore. It seems incredible that Dumbledore-**

 **That Dumbledore what? But there were any number of things that would seem incredible about Dumbledore; that he had once received bottom marks on a Transfiguration test, for instance or had taken up goat charming like Aberforth…**

 **Harry got to his feet and scanned the floor; Perhaps the rest of the letter was here somewhere. He seized papers, tearing them in his eagerness, with as little consideration as the original searcher, he pulled open drawers, shook out books, stood on a chair to run his hand over the top of the wardrobe, and crawled under the bed and armchair.**

 **At last, lying facedown on the floor, he spotted what looked like a torn piece of paper under the chest of drawers. When he pulled it out, it proved to be most of the photograph that Lily had described in her letter. A black-haired baby was zooming in and out of the picture on a tiny broom, roaring with laughter, and a pair of legs that must have belonged to James was chasing after him. Harry tucked the photograph and continued to look for the second sheet.**

Molly cooed. "I bet Harry was a cute baby. I would very much like to see that picture someday."

Me too, Ginn thought, not daring to say it outloud.

"I might have some other pictures somewhere," Lupin thought. "It might take some digging, but I'm sure I could bring them over sometime."

The mood in the room brightened.

 **After another quarter of an hour, however, he was forced to conclude that the rest of his mother's letter was gone. Had it simply been lost in the sixteen years that had elapsed since it had been written, or had it been taken by whoever had searched the room? Harry read the first sheet again, this time looking for clues as to what might have made the second sheet valuable. His toy broomstick could hardly be considered interesting to the Death Eaters...The only potentially useful thing he could see here was possible information on Dumbledore. It seems incredible that Dumbledore-what?**

" **Harry? Harry? Harry!"**

"Called it!" George said, jumping from his seat.

" **I'm here!" he called, "What's happened?"**

 **There was a clatter of footsteps outside the door, and Hermione burst inside.**

" **We woke up and didn't know where you were!" she said breathlessly. She turned and shouted over her shoulder, "Ron! I've found him!"**

 **Ron's annoyed voice echoed distantly from several floors below.**

" **Good! Tell him from me he's a git!"**

"Ronald!" Molly gasped, while everyone else laughed.

" **Harry, don't just disappear, please, we were terrified! Why did you come up here anyway?" She gazed around the ransacked room. "What have you been doing?"**

" **Look what I've just found."**

 **He held out his mother's letter. Hermione took it out and read it while Harry watched her. When she reached the end of the page she looked up at him.**

" **Oh, Harry…"**

" **And there's this too."**

 **He handed her the torn photograph, and Hermione smiled at the baby zooming in and out of sight on the toy broom.**

" **I've been looking for the rest of the letter," Harry said, "but it's not here."**

 **Hermione glanced around.**

" **Did you make all this mess, or was some of it done when you got here?"**

" **Someone had searched before me," said Harry.**

" **I thought so. Every room I looked into on the way up had been disturbed. What were they after, do you think?"**

" **Information on the Order, if it was Snape."**

Bill shook his head. "If it really was Snape, he would know where all that was without having to trash the place."

" **But you'd think he'd already have all he needed. I mean he was in the Order, wasn't he?"**

" **Well the," said Harry, keen to discuss his theory, "what about information on Dumbledore? The second page of the letter, for instance. You know this Bathilda my mum mentions, you know who she it?"**

" **Who?"**

" **Bathilda Bagshot, the author of-"**

" **A History of Magic," said Hermione looking interested.**

"Interested?" Ginny exclaimed. "I bet she was jumping up and down like a crazy person."

" **She was an incredible magic historian."**

" **And she's still alive," said Harry, "and she lives in Godric's Hollow. Ron's Auntie Muriel was talking about her at the wedding. She knew Dumbledore's family too. Be pretty interesting to talk to, wouldn't she?"**

"That woman needs to learn to keep her mouth shut," Arthur groaned.

 **There was a little too much understanding in the smile Hermione gave him for Harry's liking. He took back the letter and the photograph and tucked inside the pouch around his neck, so as not to have to look at her and give himself away.**

" **I understand why you'd love to talk to her about your mum and dad, and Dumbledore too," said Hermione. "But that wouldn't really help us in our search for the Horcruxes, would it?" Harry did not answer, and she rushed on. "Harry, I know you really want to go to Godric's Hollow, but I'm scared. I'm scared at how easily those Death Eaters found us yesterday. It just makes me feel more than ever that we ought to avoid the place where your parents are buried, I'm sure they'd be expecting you to visit it."**

"I have to agree with her, but I don't like it." said Ginny.

"I don't understand," said George. "Why can't they just go under the Invisibility Cloak? It would lift Harry's spirits."

Arthur answered. "Because it's too risky and predictable."

" **It's not just that," Harry said, still avoiding looking at her. "Muriel said stuff about Dumbledore at the wedding. I want to know the truth…"**

 **He told Hermione everything that Muriel had told him. When he had finished, Hermione said, "Of course, I can see why that's upset you, Harry-"**

" **I'm not upset," he lied. "I'd just like to know whether or not it's true or-"**

" **Harry, do you really think you'll get the truth from a malicious old woman like Muriel, or from Rita Skeeter? How can you believe them? You knew Dumbledore!"**

" **I thought I did," he muttered.**

" **But you know how much truth there was in everything Rita wrote about you! Doge is right, how can you let these people tarnish your memories of Dumbledore?"**

Ginny winced. "Ouch, Hermione, that was a little harsh."

 **He looked away, trying not to betray the resentment he felt. There it was again: Choose what to believe. He wanted the truth. Why was everybody so determined that he should not get it?**

" **Shall we go down to the kitchen?" Hermione suggested after a little pause. "Find something for breakfast?"**

 **He agreed, but grudgingly, and followed her out onto the landing and past the second door that led off it. There were deep scratch marks in the paintwork below a small sign that he had not noticed in the dark. He paused at the top of the stair to read it. It was a pompous little sign, neatly lettered by hand, the sort of thing that Percy Weasley might have stuck on his bedroom door.**

 **Do Not Enter**

 **Without the Express Permission of**

 **Regulus Arcturus Black**

 **Excitement trickled through Harry, but he was not immediately sure why.**

Everyone glanced at each other, puzzled. Tonks asked, "Why would that interest Harry?"

 **He read the sign again. Hermione was already a flight of stairs below him.**

" **Hermione," he said, and was surprised that his voice was so calm. "Come back up here."**

" **What's the matter?"**

" **R.A.B. I think I've found him."**

 **There was a gasp, and then Hermione ran back up the stairs.**

"R.A.B.? Why would Sirius's brother's initials be important?"

" **In your mum's letter? But I didn't see-"**

 **Harry shook his head, pointing at Regulus's sign. She read it, then clutched Harry's arm so tightly that he winced.**

" **Sirius's brother?" she whispered.**

" **He was a Death Eater," said Harry. "Sirius told me about him, he joined up when he was really young and then got cold feet and tried to leave-so they killed him."**

" **That fits!" gasped Hermione. "If he was a Death Eater he had access to Voldemort, and if he became disenchanted, then he would have wanted to bring Voldemort down!"**

 **She released Harry, leaned over the banister, and screamed, "Ron! RON! Get up here, quick!"**

 **Ron appeared, panting, a minute later, his wand ready in his hand.**

" **What's up? If it's massive spiders again I want breakfast before I-"**

"Wait, again? When have they ever encountered spiders that big before?" Molly asked, concerned. Remus and Ginny made eye contact, but said nothing.

 **He frowned at the sign on Regulus's door, to which Hermione was silently pointing.**

" **What? That was Sirius's brother, wasn't it? Regulus Arcturus...Regulus...R.A.B.! The locket-you don't reckon-?"**

"Locket?" the whole room asked.

"Something to do with the Horcruxes?" Fleur asked.

Tonks shrugged. "Maybe."

" **Let's find out," said Harry. He pushed the door: It was locked. Hermione pointed her wand at the handle and said, "Alohomora." There was a click, and the door swung open.**

 **They moved over the threshold together, gazing around. Regulus's bedroom was slightly smaller than Sirius's, though it had the same sense of former grandeur. Whereas Sirius had sought to advertise his diffidence from the rest of the family, Regulus had striven to emphasize the opposite. The Slytherin colors of emerald and silver were everywhere, draping the bed, the walls, and the windows. The Black family crest was painstakingly painted over the bed, along with its motto, TOUJOURS PUR. Beneath this was a collection of yellow newspaper cuttings, all stuck together to make a ragged collage. Hermione crossed the room to examine them.**

" **They're all about Voldemort," she said. "Regulus seems to have been a fan for a few years before he joined the Death Eaters…"**

 **A little puff of dust rose from the bedcovers as she sat down to read the clippings. Harry, meanwhile, had noticed another photograph; a Hogwarts Quidditch team was smiling and waving out of the frame. He moved closer and saw the snakes emblazoned on their chests: Slytherins. Regulus was instantly recognizable as the boy sitting in the middle of the front row. He had the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of his brother, though he was smaller, slighter, and rather less handsome that Sirius had been.**

" **He played Seeker," said Harry.**

" **What?" said Hermione vaguely; she was still immersed in Voldemort's press clippings.**

" **He's sitting in the middle of the front row, that's where the Seeker...Never mind," said Harry, realizing that nobody was listening.**

Bill chuckled. "Poor Harry. All these years, and he still hasn't figured out that Hermione doesn't understand Quidditch." He shook his head in amusement.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

 **Ron was on his hands and knees, searching under the wardrobe. Harry looked around the room for likely hiding places and approached the desk. Yet again, somebody had searched before them. The drawer's' contents had been turned over recently, the dust disturbed, but there was nothing of value there: old quills, out-of-date textbooks that bore evidence of being roughly handled, a recently smashed ink bottle, it's sticky residue covering the contents of the drawer.**

" **There's an easier way," said Hermione, as Harry wiped his inky fingers on his jeans. She raised her wand and said, "Accio Locket!"**

 **Nothing happened. Ron, who had been searching the folds of the faded curtains, looked disappointed.**

" **Is that it, then? It's not here?"**

" **Oh, it could still be here, but under counter-enchantments," said Hermione. "Charms to prevent it from being summoned magically, you know."**

" **Like Voldemort put on the stone basin in the cave," said Harry, remembering how he had been unable to Summon the fake locket.**

"So...where's the real one, then? Is it in the house?"

"Did Regulus make the fake locket when he tried to leave?"

Arthur raised his hand at the flow of questions. "Maybe we will find out later."

" **How are we supposed to find it then?" asked Ron.**

" **We search manually," said Hermione.**

" **That's a good idea," said Ron, rolling his eyes, and he resumed his examination of the curtains.**

 **They combed every inch of the room for more than an hour, but were forced, finally, to conclude that the locket was not there.**

 **The sun had risen now; its light dazzled them even through the grimy landing windows.**

" **It could be somewhere else in the house, though," said Hermione in a rallying tone as they walked back downstairs. As Harry and Ron had become more discouraged, she seemed to have become more determined. "Whether he'd manage to destroy it or not, he'd want to keep it hidden from Voldemort, wouldn't he Remember all those awful things we had to get rid of when we were here last time? That clock that shot bolts at everyone and those old robes that tried to strangle Ron; regulus might have put them there to protect the locket's hiding place, even though we didn't realize it at...at…"**

 **Harry and Ron looked at her. She was standing with one foot in midair, with the dumbstruck look of one who had just been Obliviated: her eyes had even drifted out of focus.**

" **...at the time," she finished in a whisper.**

" **Something wrong?"**

" **There was a locket."**

" **What?" said Harry and Ron together.**

" **In the cabinet in the drawing room. Nobody could open it. And we...we…"**

"OH MY GOSH, I WAS HOLDING VOLDEMORT"S SOUL?! THAT'S SO GROSS!"

"It was right there, the whole time!" George exclaimed, as Ginny furiously shivered and made gagging noises.

 **Harry felt as though a brick had slid down through his chest into his stomach. He remembered. He had even handled the thing as they passed it around, each trying in turn to pry it open. It had been tossed into a sack of rubbish, along with the snuffbox of Wartcap and the music box that had made everyone sleepy…**

" **Kreacher nicked loads of things back from us," said Harry. It was the only chance, the only slender hope left to them, and he was going to cling to it until forced to let go. "He had a whole stash of stuff in his cupboard in the kitchen. C'mon."**

 **He ran down the stairs taking two steps at a time, the other two thundering along in his wake. They made so much noise that they woke the portrait of Sirius's mother as the passed through the hall. "Filth! Mudbloods! Scum!" She screamed after them as they dashed down into the basement kitchen and slammed the door behind them. Harry ran the length of the room, skidded to a halt at the door of Kreacher's cupboard, and wrenched it open. There was the nest of dirty old blankets in which the house-elf had once slept, but they were not longer glittering with the trinkets Kreacher had salvaged. The only thing there was an old copy of Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. Refusing to believe his eyes, Harry snatched up the blankets and shook them A dead mouse fell out and rolled dismally across the floor. Ron groaned as he threw himself into a kitchen chair; Hermione closed her eyes.**

" **It's not over yet," said Harry, and he raised his voice and called, "Kreacher!"**

 **There was a loud crack and the house elf that Harry had so reluctantly inherited from Sirius appeared out of nowhere in front of the cold and empty fireplace; tiny, half human-sized, his pale skin hanging off him in folds, white hair sprouting copiously from his bat-like ears. He was still wearing the filthy rag in which they had first met him, and the contemptuous look he bent upon Harry showed that his attitude to his change of ownership had altered no more than his outfit.**

" **Master," croaked Kreacher in his bullfrog's voice, and he bowed low, muttering into his knees, "back in my Mistress's old house with the blood-traitor Weasley and the Mudblood-"**

Lupin sighed. "I never cared for that elf. Or his manners."

" **I forbid you to call anyone 'blood traitor' or 'Mudblood," growled Harry.**

 **He would have found Kreacher, with his snout-like nose and bloodshot eyes, a distinctly unlovable object even if the elf had not betrayed Sirius to Voldemort.**

"I can see how that might make things...tense," said Arthur.

" **I've got a question for you," said Harry, his heart beating rather fast as he looked down at the elf, "and I order you to answer it truthfully. Understand?"**

" **Yes, Master," said Kreacher, bowing low again. Harry saw his lips moving soundlessly, undoubtedly framing the insults he was no forbidden to utter.**

" **Two years ago," said Harry, his heart now hammering against his ribs, "there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it out. Did you steal it back?"**

 **There was a moment's silence, during which Kreacher straightened up to look Harry full in the face. Then he said, "Yes."**

Everyone released a breath they didn't know they were holding.

" **Where is it now?" asked Harry jubilantly as Ron and Hermione looked gleeful. Kreacher closed his eyes as though he could not bear to see their reactions to his next word.**

" **Gone."**

The excitement in the room dropped like a stone.

" **Gone?" echoed Harry, elation floating out of him. "What do you mean, it's gone?"**

 **The elf shivered. He swayed.**

" **Kreacher," said Harry fiercely, "I order you-"**

" **Mundungus Fletcher," croaked the elf, his eyes still shut. "Mundungus Fletcher stole it all; Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and-and-"**

"Damn that Mundungus!" Ginny snarled.

Molly's head whipped around so fast that her neck cracked. "Ginny Weasley, watch your language!"

Ginny grumbled, but settled down.

 **Kreacher was gulping for air: His hollow chest was rising and falling rapidly, then his eyes flew open and he uttered a bloodcurdling scream.**

" **-and the locket, Master Regulus' locket. Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed in his orders!"**

 **Harry reacted instinctively: As Kreacher lunged for the poker standing in the grate, he launched himself upon the elf, flattening him. Hermione's scream mingled with Kreacher's but Harry bellowed louder than both of them: "Kreacher, I order you to stay still!"**

Fred smirked. "That's gotta be pretty loud. Have you ever heard Harry yell?"

"Yes," everyone said at once.

 **He felt the elf freeze and released him. Kreacher lay flat on the cold stone floor, tears gushing from his sagging eyes.**

" **Harry, let him up!" Hermione whispered.**

" **So he can beat himself up with the poker?" snorted Harry, kneeling beside the elf. "I don't think so. Right. Kreacher, I want the truth: How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?"**

" **Kreacher saw him!" gasped the elf as tears poured over his snout and into his mouth full of graying teeth. "Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher's cupboard with his hands full of Kreacher's treasures. Kreacher told the sneak thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher laughed and r-ran…"**

" **You called the locket 'Master Regulus's." said Harry. "Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything you know about that locket, and everything Regulus had to do with it!"**

 **The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees, and began to rock backward and forward. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but quite distinct in the silent, echoing kitchen.**

" **Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress's heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper order; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns...and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve...And one day, a year after he joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said...he said…"**

 **The old elf rocked faster than ever.**

" **...he said that the Dark Lord required an elf."**

"What?" the whole room said in unision.

" **Voldemort needed an elf?" Harry repeated, looking around at Ron and Hermione, who looked just as puzzled as he did.**

" **Oh, yes," moaned Kreacher. "And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do...and then to c-come home."**

 **Kreacher rocked still faster, his breath coming in sobs.**

" **So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake…"**

 **The hairs on the back of Harry's neck stood up. Kreacher's croaking voice seemed to come to him from across the dark water. He saw what had happened as clearly as though he had been present.**

" **...There was a boat…"**

 **Of course there had been a boat; Harry knew the boat, ghostly green and tiny, bewitched so as to carry one wizard and one victim toward the Island in the center. This, then, was how Voldemort had tested the defenses surrounding the Horcrux had tested the defenses surrounding the Horcrux, by borrowing a disposable creature, a house-elf…**

Molly looked sick. "Why does Harry know so much about that lake? When has he been there? Who took him there?"

No one could answer, but there were worried glancesdirected around the room.

" **There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it…"**

Fleur gasped. "How horrible!"

Bill rubbed his wife's shoulders. "What do you expect, he's the most evil wizard in the world." But even he looked a little grin.

 **The elf quaked from head to foot.**

" **Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible things...Kreacher's insides burned...Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed...He made Kreacher drink all the potion...He dropped a locket into the empty basin...He filled it with more potion."**

" **And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island…"**

Even though Ginny didn't like Kreacher, she couldn't help but pity him now. It almost made her cry. No one, not even an old, grumpy, rude house-elf, deserved that.

 **Harry could see it happening. He watched Voldemort's white, snakelike face vanishing into darkness, those red eyes fixed pitilessly on the thrashing elf whose death would occur within minutes, whenever he succumbed to the desperate thirst that the burning poison caused its victim...But here, Harry's imagination could go no further, for he could not see how Kreacher had escaped.**

"How does Harry know what that potion does?"

Ginny paled. "You don't think...that he drank it, do you?"

Arthur released a shaky breath. "I sure hope not."

" **Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island's edge, and he drank from the black lake...and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface…"**

Everyone shivered. It was a horrible way to die.

" **How did you get away?" Harry asked, and he was not surprised to hear himself whispering.**

 **Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked at Harry with his great, bloodshot eyes.**

" **Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he said.**

" **I know-but how did you escape the Inferni?"**

Lupin sighed. "Obviously there is a backstory to a dangerous one, it sounds like."

Everyone grew tense at the thought.

 **Kreacher did not seem to understand.**

" **Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he repeated.**

" **I know, but-"**

" **Well, it's obvious, isn't it, Harry?" said Ron. "He Disapparated!"**

" **But...you couldn't Apparate in and out of that cave," said Harry," otherwise Dumbledore-"**

"Dumbledore!? Dumbledore took him there? Did he make Harry drink that potion?!"

Lupin stopped Tonk's torrent of words. "Unlikely. Dumbledore wouldn't put Harry through that." Lupin paused. "He drank it himself," he whispered, shocked.

"To get the locket?"

"I suppose so…"

" **Elf magic isn't like wizard's magic, is it?" said Ron, "I mean, they can Apparate and Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts when we can't."**

 **There was a silence as Harry digested this. How could Voldemort have made such a mistake? But even as he thought this, Hermione spoke, and her voice was icy.**

" **Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of house-elves for beneath his notice...it would never have occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn't."**

" **The house-elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," intoned Kreacher.**

" **Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home…"**

" **Well, then, you did what you were told, didn't you?" said Hermione kindly. "You didn't disobey orders at all!"**

 **Kreacher shook his head, rocking as fast as ever.**

" **So what happened when you got back?" Harry asked. "What did Regulus say when you told him what happened?"**

" **Master Regulus was very worried, very worried," croaked Kreacher. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then...it was a little while later...Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell...and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord…"**

 **And so they had set off. Harry could visualize them quite clearly, the frightened old elf and the thin, dark Seeker who had so resembled Sirius...Kreacher knew how to open the concealed entrance to the underground cavern, knew how to raise the tiny boat; this time it was his beloved Regulus who sailed with him to the island with its basin of poison…**

" **And he made you drink the poison?" said Harry, disgusted.**

 **But Kreacher shook his head and wept. Hermione's hands leapt to her mouth: She seemed to have understood something.**

" **M-Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," said Kreacher, tears pouring down either side of his snout-like nose. "And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets…"**

 **Kreacher's sobs came in great rasps now; Harry had to concentrate hard to understand him.**

" **And he ordered-Kreacher to leave- without him. And he told Kreacher- to go home- and never to tell my Mistress- what he had done- but to destroy- the first locket. And he drank- all the potion- and Kreacher swapped the lockets- and watched...as Master Regulus...was dragged beneath the water...and…"**

"Regulus…." Lupin put his face in his hands. He had never really known Sirius's brother, and been neither mean nor kind to him. But now...guilt clawed at his heart like a starving wolf, and he couldn't stop the tears from leaking out of his closed eyes.

He felt Tonks wrap around him from behind and began rubbing gentle, comforting circles down his back.

The others said nothing, those who had known Regulus rubbing their eyes.

" **Oh, Kreacher!" wailed Hermione, who was crying. She dropped to her knees beside the elf and tried to hug him. At once he was on his feet, cringing away from her, quite obviously repulsed.**

" **The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?"**

" **I told you not to call her 'Mudblood'!" snarled Harry, but the elf was already punishing himself. He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor.**

" **Stop him- stop him!" Hermione cried. "Oh, don't you see now how sick it is, the way they've got to obey?"**

" **Kreacher- stop, stop!" shouted Harry.**

 **The elf lay on the floor, panting and shivering, green mucus glistening around his snout, a bruise already blooming on his pallid forehead where he had struck himself, his eyes swollen and bloodshot and swimming with tears. Harry had never seen anything so pitiful.**

" **So you brought the locket home," he said relentlessly, for he was determined to know the full story. "And you tried to destroy it?"**

" **Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf. "Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work...So many powerful spells upon the casting, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open...Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave…"**

 **Kreacher began to sob so hard that there were no more coherent words. Tears flowed down Hermione's cheeks as she watched Kreacher, but she did not dare touch him again. Even Ron, who was no fan of Kreacher's, looked troubled. Harry sat back on his heels and shook his head, trying to clear it.**

" **I don't understand yo, Kreacher," he said finally. "Voldemort tried to kill you, Regulus died to bring Voldemort down, but you were still happy to betray Sirius to Voldemort? You were happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix, and pass information to Voldemort through them…"**

" **Harry, Kreacher doesn't think like that," said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "He's a slave; house-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment; what Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn't that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He's loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs. I know what you're going to say," she went on as Harry began to protest, "that Regulus changed his mind...but he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus's family were all safest if the kept to the old pureblood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all."**

Bill chuckled, stunned. "Not only is she the smartest witch of her age, but also the most understanding."

" **Sirius-"**

" **Sirius was horrible to Kreacher, Harry, and it's no good looking like that, you know it's true. Kreacher had been alone for such a long time when Sirius came to live here, and he was probably starving for a bit of affection. I'm sure 'Miss Cissy' and 'Miss Bella' were perfectly lovely to Kreacher when he turned up, so he did them a favor and told them everything they wanted to know. I've said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did...and so did Sirius."**

 **Harry had no retort. As he watched Kreacher sobbing on the floor, he remembered what Dumbledore had said to him, mere hours after Sirius's death: I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feeling as acute as a human's…**

" **Kreacher," said Harry after a while, "when you feel up to it, er...please sit up."**

 **It was several minutes before Kreacher hiccupped himself into silence. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position again, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes like a small child.**

" **Kreacher, I am going to ask you to do something," said Harry. He glanced at Hermione for assistance. He wanted to give the order kindly, but at the same time, he could not pretend that it was not an order. However, the change in his tone seemed to have gained her approval; She smiled encouragingly.**

" **Kreacher, I want you, please, to go and find Mundungus Fletcher. We need to find out where the locket- where Master Regulus's locket is. It's really important. We want to finish the work Master Regulus started, we want to-er- ensure that he didn't die in vain."**

 **Kreacher dropped his fists and looked up at Harry.**

" **Find Mundungus Fletcher?" he croaked.**

" **And bring him here, to Grimmauld Place," said Harry. "Do you think you could do that for us?"**

 **As Kreacher nodded and got to his feet, Harry had a sudden inspiration. He pulled out Hagrid's purse and took out the fake Horcrux, the substitute locket in which Regulus had placed the note to Voldemort.**

" **Kreacher, I'd, er, like you to have this," he said, pressing the locket into the elf's hand. "This belonged to Regulus and I'm sure he'd want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you-"**

" **Overkill, mate," said Ron as the elf took one look at the locket, let out a howl of shock and misery, and threw himself back on the ground. It took them nearly half an hour to calm down Kreacher, who was so overcome to be presented with a Black family heirloom for his very own that he was too weak at the knees to stand properly.**

"Harry's got a good heart," Molly said, smiling. "Perhaps Kreacher might grow to like him."

"I don't know if I'd go that far, Mum."

 **When finally he was able to totter a few steps they all accompanied him to his cupboard, watched him tuck up the locket safely in his dirty blankets, and assured him that they would make its protection their first priority while he was away. He then made two low bows to Harry and Ron, and even gave a funny little spasm in Hermione's direction that might have been an attempt at a respectful salute, before Disapparating with the usual loud crack.**


	4. Chapter 4

Sinking down onto the plush couch Ginny snatched the book from the table.

" **The Bribe** ," she began.

 **If Kreacher could escape a lake full of Inferni, Harry was confident that the capture of Mundungus would take a few hours at most, and he prowled the house all morning in a high state of anticipation. However, Kreacher did not return that morning or even that afternoon.** **By nightfall, Harry felt discouraged and anxious, and a supper composed largely of moldy bread, upon which Hermione had tried a variety of unsuccessful Transfigurations, did nothing to help.**

Everyone cringed. Molly felt a little guilty. Ever since Sirius died no one had stayed for very long in the house, so they gradually stopped restocking the pantry. She now regretted that it was her idea to stop.

 **Kreacher did not return the following day, nor the day after that. However, two cloaked men had appeared in the square outside number twelve, and they remained there into the night, gazing in the direction of the house that they could not see.**

"They know they're there," George murmured darkly. "So much for a safe hiding place." Arthur slammed a fist into his other hand. "I knew it! It's Snape, the traitor! I'll rip him apart with-"

"Arthur!"

Arthur stopped, looked at their shocked faces, and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Got...carried away, I guess."

 **Death Eaters, for sure," said Ron, as he, Harry, and Hermione watched from the drawing room windows. "Reckon they know we're in here?"**

 **"I don't think so," said Hermione, though she looked frightened, "or they'd have sent Snape in after us, wouldn't they?"**

 **"D'you reckon he's been in here and has his tongue tied by Moody's curse?" asked Ron.**

 **"Yes," said Hermione, "otherwise he'd have been able to tell that lot how to get in, wouldn't he? But they're probably watching to see whether we turn up. They know that Harry owns the house, after all."**

 **"How do they know?" asked Harry.**

 **"Wizarding wills are examined by the Ministry, remember? They'll know Sirius left you the place."**

 **The presence of the Death Eaters outside increased the ominous mood inside number twelve. They had not heard a word from anyone beyond Grimmauld Place since Mr. Weasley's Patronus, and the strain was starting to tell. Restless and irritable, Ron had developed an annoying habit of playing with the Deluminator in his pocket; This particularly infuriated Hermione, who was whiling away the wait for Kreacher by studying The Tales of Beedle the Bard and did not appreciate the way the lights kept flashing on and off.**

 **"Will you stop it!" she cried on the third evening of Kreacher's absence, as all the light was sucked from the drawing room yet again.**

 **"Sorry, sorry!" said Ron, clicking the Deluminator and restoring the lights. "I don't know I'm doing it!"**

 **"Well, can't you find something useful to occupy yourself?"**

 **"What, like reading kids' stories?"**

Ginny sighed. "Geez, Ron. No tact."

Fred whispered to George, "Must get it from Dad." Fred snorted, barely holding back his laughter.

Molly noticed her son's' red faces. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" "Nothing!"

She narrowed her eyes, but decided not to push the issue.

 **"Dumbledore left me this book, Ron- "**

 **" -and he left me the Deluminator, maybe I'm supposed to use it!"**

 **Unable to stand the bickering, Harry slipped out of the room unnoticed by either of them. He headed downstairs toward the kitchen, which he kept visiting because he was sure that was where Kreacher was most likely to reappear. Halfway down the flight of stairs into the hall, however, he heard a tap on the front door, then metallic clicks and the grinding of the chain.**

Everyone tensed.

 **Every nerve in his body seemed to tauten: He pulled out his wand, moved into the shadows beside the decapitated elf heads, and waited. The door opened: He saw a glimpse of the lamplit square outside, and a cloaked figure edged into the hall and closed the door behind it. The intruder took a step forward, and Moody's voice asked, "Severus Snape?" Then the dust figure rose from the end of the hall and rushed him, raising its dead hand.**

 **"It was not I who killed you, Albus," said a quiet voice.**

 **The jinx broke: The dust-figure exploded again, and it was impossible to make out the newcomer through the dense gray cloud it left behind.**

 **Harry pointed the wand into the middle of it.**

 **"Don't move!"**

 **He had forgotten the portrait of Mrs. Black: At the sound of his yell, the curtains hiding her flew open and she began to scream, "Mudbloods and filth dishonoring my house - "**

 **Ron and Hermione came crashing down the stairs behind Harry, wands pointing, like his, at the unknown man now standing with his arms raised in the hall below.**

 **"Hold your fire, it's me, Remus!"**

"Be careful, Harry," Arthur said.

Molly looked at him. "But it's Remus, Arthur. Why does he need to be careful?"

Arthur shook his head. "It could be a trap. Until he proves it's him, it's not safe to trust him."

 **"Oh, thank goodness," said Hermione weakly, pointing her wand at Mrs. Black instead; with a bang, the curtains swished shut again and silence fell. Ron too lowered his wand, but Harry did not.**

Arthur nodded his head in approval.

 **"Show yourself!" he called back.**

 **Lupin moved forward into the lamplight, hands still held high in a gesture of surrender.**

 **"I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map, married to Nymphadora, usually known as Tonks, and I taught you how to produce a Patronus, Harry, which takes the form of a stag."**

Everyone relaxed.

 **"Oh, all right," said Harry, lowering his wand, "but I had to check, didn't I?"**

 **"Speaking as your ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, I quite agree that you had to check. Ron, Hermione, you shouldn't be so quick to lower your defenses."**

 **They ran down the stairs towards him. Wrapped in a thick black traveling cloak, he looked exhausted, but pleased to see them.**

 **"No sign of Severus, then?" he asked.**

 **"No," said Harry. "What's going on? Is everyone okay?"**

Molly smiled softly. "Even when the whole world is hunting him, he wants to make sure we are all okay."

Ginny looked down. "That's my Harry," she said to herself.

 **"Yes," said Lupin, "but we're all being watched. There are a couple of Death Eaters in the square outside-"**

 **"We know."**

 **"I had to Apparate very precisely onto the top step outside the front door to be sure that they would not see me. They can't know you're in here or I'm sure they'd have more people out there; they're staking out everywhere that's got any connection with you, Harry. Let's go downstairs, there's a lot to tell you, and I want to know what happened after you left the Burrow."**

 **They descended into the kitchen, where Hermione pointed her wand at the grate. A fire sprang up instantly: It gave the illusion of coziness to the stark stone walls and glistened off the long wooden table. Lupin pulled a few butterbeers from beneath his traveling cloak and they sat down.**

 **"I'd have been here three days ago but I needed to shake off the Death Eater tailing me," said Lupin. "So, you came straight here after the wedding?"**

 **"No," said Harry, "only after we ran into a couple of Death Eaters in a cafe on Tottenham Court Road."**

"Well, that's one way to break news."

 **Lupin slopped most of his butterbeer down his front.**

 **"What?"**

 **They explained what had happened; when they had finished, Lupin looked aghast.**

 **"But how did they find you so quickly? It's impossible to track anyone who Apparates, unless you grab hold of them as they disappear."**

 **"And it doesn't seem likely they were just strolling down Tottenham Court Road at the time, does it?" said Harry.**

 **"We wondered," said Hermione tentatively, "whether Harry could still have the Trace on him?"**

 **"Impossible," said Lupin. Ron looked smug, and Harry felt hugely relieved. "Apart from anything else, they'd know for sure Harry was here if he still had the Trace on him, wouldn't they? But I can't see how they could have tracked you to Tottenham Court Road, that's worrying, really worrying."**

"Guess that option's out, then."

 **He looked disturbed, but as far as Harry was concerned, that question could wait.**

 **"Tell us what happened after we left, we haven't heard a thing since Ron's dad told us the family was safe."**

 **"Well, Kingsley saved us," said Lupin. "Thanks to his warning most of the wedding guests were able to Disapparate before they arrived."**

 **"Were they Death Eaters or Ministry people?" interjected Hermione.**

 **"A mixture; but to all intents and purposes they're the same thing now," said Lupin. "There were about a dozen of them, but they didn't know you were there, Harry. Arthur heard a rumor that they tried to torture your whereabouts out of Scrimgeour before they killed him; if it's true, he didn't give you away."**

Everyone looked at Arthur. "Is it true?"

The man nodded gravely, and the mood dampened.

 **Harry looked at Ron and Hermione; their expressions reflected the mingled shock and gratitude he felt. He had never liked Scrimgeour much, but if what Lupin said was true, the man's final act had been to try to protect Harry.**

 **"The Death Eaters searched the Burrow from top to bottom," Lupin went on. "They found the ghoul, but didn't want to get too close and then they interrogated those of us who remained for hours. They were trying to get information on you, Harry, but of course nobody apart from the Order knew that you had been there."**

 **"At the same time that they were smashing up the wedding, more Death Eaters were forcing their way into every Order-connected house in the country. No deaths," he added quickly, forestalling the question, "but they were rough. They burned down Dedalus Diggle's house, but as you know he wasn't there, and they used the Cruciarus Curse on Tonks's family. Again, trying to find out where you went after you visited them. They're all right-shaken, obviously, but otherwise okay."**

Fred cringed. "That's gonna make him feel even worse. He's already such a noble prat as it is."

 **"The Death Eaters got through all those protective charms?"Harry asked, remembering how effective these had been on the night he had crashed in Tonks's parents' garden.**

 **"What you've got to realize, Harry, is that the Death Eaters have got the full might of the Ministry on their side now," said Lupin. "They've got the power to perform brutal spells without fear of identification or arrest. They managed to penetrate every defensive spell we'd cast against them, and once inside, they were completely open about why they'd come."**

 **"And are they bothering to give an excuse for torturing Harry's whereabouts out of people?" asked Hermione, an edge to her voice.**

 **"Well," Lupin said. He hesitated, then pulled out a folded copy of the Daily Prophet.**

 **"Here," he said, pushing it across the table to Harry, "you'll know sooner or later anyway. That's their pretext for going after you."**

 **Harry smoothed out the paper. A huge photograph of his own face filled the front page. He read the headline over it:**

 **WANTED FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT THE DEATH OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

 **Ron and Hermione gave roars of outrage, but Harry said nothing. He pushed the newspaper away; he did not want to read anymore: He knew what it would say. Nobody but those who had been on top of the tower when Dumbledore died knew who had really killed him and, as Rita Skeeter had already told the Wizarding world, Harry had been seen running from the place moments after Dumbledore had fallen.**

 **"I'm sorry, Harry," Lupin said.**

 **"So Death Eaters have taken over the Daily Prophet too?" asked Hermione furiously.**

 **Lupin nodded.**

Arthur sighed. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. You-Know-Who's influence is too strong for many people to stand against."

 **"But surely people realize what's going on?"**

 **"The coup has been smooth and virtually silent," said Lupin.**

 **"The official version of Scrimgeour's murder is that he resigned; he has been replaced by Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse."**

 **"Why didn't Voldemort declare himself Minister of Magic?" asked Ron.**

 **Lupin laughed. "He doesn't need to, Ron. Effectively, he is the Minister, but why should he sit behind a desk at the Ministry? His puppet, Thicknesse, is taking care of everyday business, leaving Voldemort free to extend his power beyond the Ministry."**

 **"Naturally many people have deduced what has happened: There has been such a dramatic change in Ministry policy in the last few days, and many are whispering that Voldemort must be behind it. However, that is the point: They whisper. They daren't confide in each other, not knowing whom to trust; they are scared to speak out, in case their suspicions are true and their families are targeted. Yes, Voldemort is playing a very clever game. Declaring himself might have provoked open rebellion: Remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear."**

 **"And this dramatic change in Ministry policy," said Harry, "involves warning the Wizarding world against me instead of Voldemort?"**

 **"That's certainly a part of it," said Lupin, "and it is a masterstroke. Now that Dumbledore is dead, you - "The Boy Who Lived "-were sure to be the symbol and rallying point for any resistance to Voldemort. But by suggesting that you had a hand in the old hat's death, Voldemort has not only set a price upon your head, but sown doubt and fear amongst many who would have defended you."**

 **"Meanwhile, the Ministry has started moving against Muggle-borns."**

 **Lupin pointed at the Daily Prophet."Look at page two."**

 **Hermione turned the pages with much the same expression of distaste she had when handling Secrets of the Darkest Art.**

 **"Muggle-born Register!" she read aloud. "'The Ministry of Magic is undertaking a survey of so-called "Muggle-borns" the better to understand how they came to possess magical secrets."**

 **"'Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries reveals that magic can only be passed from person to person when Wizards reproduce. Where no proven Wizarding ancestry exists, therefore, the so-called Muggle-born is likely to have obtained magical power by theft or force."**

 **"'The Ministry is determined to root out such usurpers of magical power, and to this end has issued an invitation to every so-called Muggle-born to present themselves for interview by the newly appointed Muggle-born Registration Commission.'"**

The group looked at each other in horror. "That-that's so awful!" Ginny shrieked. "And people are letting this happen?"

Arthur responded, "People are scared. Speaking out means you and your family will be watched and, possibly, targeted. People will do horrible things to stay alive, Ginny."

 **"People won't let this happen," said Ron.**

 **"It is happening, Ron," said Lupin. "Muggle-borns are being rounded up as we speak."**

 **"But how are they supposed to have 'stolen' magic?" said Ron. "It's mental, if you could steal magic there wouldn't be any Squibs, would there?"**

 **"I know," said Lupin. "Nevertheless, unless you can prove that you have at least one close Wizarding relative, you are now deemed to have obtained your magical power illegally and must suffer the punishment."**

 **Ron glanced at Hermione, then said, "What if purebloods and halfbloods swear a Muggle-born's part of their family? I'll tell everyone Hermione's my cousin-"**

 **Hermione covered Ron's hand with hers and squeezed it. "Thank you, Ron, but I couldn't let you."**

 **"You won't have a choice," said Ron fiercely, gripping her hand back. "I'll teach you my family tree so you can answer questions on it."**

"HA!"

Everyone jumped at the unexpected shout. George lept to his feet, pointing at Fred. "I called it! You owe me money!"

Fred sighed. "That doesn't count, it hasn't happened yet."

"What did you call, George?"

George looked up with a sly grin. "Ron and Hermione are going to get married."

Ginny giggled at her dumbstruck parents. "Oh, come on. Did you really not notice how into each other they are? It's pretty obvious."

Fred turned to his sister. "So, like you and Harry?"

Ginny turned red, but before she could speak Molly said, "Please keep reading, Ginny dear."

Ginny swallowed, glared at her older brother, and kept reading.

 **Hermione gave a shaky laugh. "Ron, as we're on the run with Harry Potter, the most wanted person in the country, I don't think it matters. If I was going back to school it would be different. What's Voldemort planning for Hogwarts?" she asked Lupin.**

 **"Attendance is now compulsory for every young witch and wizard," he replied. "That was announced yesterday. It's a change, because it was never obligatory before. Of course, nearly every witch and wizard in Britain has been educated at Hogwarts, but their parents had the right to teach them at home or send them abroad if they preferred. This way, Voldemort will have the whole Wizarding population under his eye from a young age. And it's also another way of weeding out Muggle-borns, because students must be given Blood Status, meaning that they have proven to the Ministry that they are of Wizard descent before they are allowed to attend."**

Molly huffed and shook her head in disgust, but said nothing.

 **Harry felt sickened and angry: At this moment, excited eleven-year-olds would be poring over stacks of newly purchased spell-books, unaware that they would never see Hogwarts, perhaps never see their families again either.**

 **"It's... it's..." he muttered, struggling to find words that did justice to the horror of his thoughts, but Lupin said quietly, "I know."**

 **Lupin hesitated.**

 **"I'll understand if you can't confirm this, Harry, but the Order is under the impression that Dumbledore left you a mission."**

 **"He did," Harry replied, "and Ron and Hermione are in on it and they're coming with me."**

 **"Can you confide in me what the mission is?"**

 **Harry looked into the prematurely lined face, framed in thick but graying hair, and wished that he could return a different answer.**

 **"I can't, Remus, I'm sorry. If Dumbledore didn't tell you I don't think I can."**

 **"I thought you'd say that," said Lupin, looking disappointed. "But I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to."**

 **Harry hesitated. It was a very tempting offer, though how they would be able to keep their mission secret from Lupin if he were with them all the time he could not imagine.**

 **Hermione, however, looked puzzled."But what about Tonks?" she asked.**

 **"What about her?" said Lupin.**

 **"Well," said Hermione, frowning, "you're married! How does she feel about you going away with us?"**

"Good point, Hermione."

 **"Tonks will be perfectly safe," said Lupin, "She'll be at her parents' house."**

 **There was something strange in Lupin's tone, it was almost cold. There was also something odd in the idea of Tonks remaining hidden at her parents' house; she was, after all, a member of the Order and, as far as Harry knew, was likely to want to be in the thick of the action.**

 **"Remus," said Hermione tentatively, "is everything all right... you know... between you and- "**

 **"Everything is fine, thank you," said Lupin pointedly.**

 **Hermione turned pink. There was another pause, an awkward and embarrassed one, and then Lupin said, with an air of forcing himself to admit something unpleasant, "Tonks is going to have a baby."**

"What!?"

"That's great!" Molly exclaimed. "Why isn't Remus excited?"

 **"Oh, how wonderful!" squealed Hermione.**

 **"Excellent!" said Ron enthusiastically.**

 **"Congratulations," said Harry.**

 **Lupin gave an artificial smile that was more like a grimace, then said, "So... do you accept my offer? Will three become four? I cannot believe that Dumbledore would have disapproved, he appointed me your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all. And I must tell you that I believe we are facing magic many of us have never encountered or imagined."**

 **Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry.**

 **"Just - just to be clear," he said. "You want to leave Tonks at her parents' house and come away with us?"**

 **"She'll be perfectly safe there, they'll look after her," said Lupin. He spoke with a finality bordering on indifference: "Harry, I'm sure James would have wanted me to stick with you."**

"A clingy Lupin? That's new."

"He can't leave Tonks like that," Ginny said. "He's married now, he has responsibilities. Why's he acting so weird?"

Arthur grimaced. "I think I know."

His family turned to him. "Why?"

Arthur gestured to the book. "If it's not explained, then I will tell you."

 **"Well," said Harry slowly, "I'm not. I'm pretty sure my father would have wanted to know why you aren't sticking with your own kid, actually."**

 **Lupin's face drained of color. The temperature in the kitchen might have dropped ten degrees. Ron stared around the room as though he had been bidden to memorize it, while Hermione's eyes swiveled backward and forward from Harry to Lupin.**

 **"You don't understand," said Lupin at last.**

 **"Explain, then," said Harry.**

 **Lupin swallowed. "I- I made a grave mistake in marrying Tonks. I did it against my better judgment and have regretted it very much every since."**

Everyone's jaws dropped. George squeaked, "I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that."

Ginny nodded, mouth still open.

 **"I see," said Harry, "so you're just going to dump her and the kid and run off with us?"**

 **Lupin sprang to his feet: His chair toppled over backward, and he glared at them so fiercely that Harry saw, for the first time ever, she shadow of the wolf upon his human face.**

 **"Don't you understand what I've done to my wife and my unborn child? I should never have married her, I've made her an outcast!"**

 **Lupin kicked aside the chair he had overturned."You have only ever seen me amongst the Order, or under Dumbledore's protection at Hogwarts! You don't know how most of the Wizarding world sees creatures like me! When they know of my affliction, they can barely talk to me! Don't you see what I've done?Even her own family is disgusted by our marriage, what parents want their only daughter to marry a werewolf? And the child-the child- "**

 **Lupin actually seized handfuls of his own hair; he looked quite deranged.**

 **"My kind don't usually breed! It will be like me, I am convinced of it ¨C how can I forgive myself, when I knowingly risked passing on my own condition to an innocent child? And if, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father of whom it must always be ashamed!"**

"Oh, Remus," Molly whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"I…" Arthur was dumbstruck. "I had no idea he felt like that."

"I don't think anyone did. He kept it inside...to be strong."

 **"Remus!" whispered Hermione, tears in her eyes. "Don't say that ¨C how could any child be ashamed of you?"**

 **"Oh, I don't know, Hermione," said Harry. "I'd be pretty ashamed of him."**

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Ginny screamed, jumping to her feet. "You have no right to say that to him! All he's done has been to protect you and Tonks and everyone! I am so…" Words failed her, and she sat down and crossed her arms. The family glanced at her wearily, as if they expected fire to come out of her nose. Finally, after she had calmed down some, she continued.

 **Harry did not know where his rage was coming from, but it had propelled him to his feet too. Lupin looked as though Harry had hit him.**

Ginny's eyes glinted dangerously.

 **"If the new regime thinks Muggle-borns are bad," Harry said, "what will they do to a half-werewolf whose father's in the Order? My father died trying to protect my mother and me, and you reckon he'd tell you to abandon your kid to go on an adventure with us?"**

 **"How - how dare you?" said Lupin. "This is not about a desire for-for danger or personal glory- how dare you suggest such a-"**

 **"I think you're feeling a bit of a daredevil," Harry said, "You fancy stepping into Sirius's shoes- "**

 **"Harry, no!" Hermione begged him, but he continued to glare into Lupin's livid face.**

 **"I'd never have believed this," Harry said. "The man who taught me to fight dementors-a coward."**

 **Lupin drew his wand so fast that Harry had barely reached for his own; there was a loud bang and he felt himself flying backward as if punched; as he slammed into the kitchen wall and slid to the floor, he glimpsed the tail of Lupin's cloak disappearing around the door.**

There were no words to say. Never had anyone in that room had ever thought that Harry and Remus would fight, let alone that Remus would attack him. It was….like something out of a nightmare.

 **"Remus, Remus, come back!" Hermione cried, but Lupin did not respond. A moment later they heard the front door slam.**

 **"Harry!" wailed Hermione. "How could you?"**

 **"It was easy," said Harry. He stood up, he could feel a lump swelling where his head had hit the wall. He was still so full of anger he was shaking.**

 **"Don't look at me like that!" he snapped at Hermione.**

 **"Don't you start on her!" snarled Ron.**

 **"No-no-we mustn't fight!" said Hermione, launching herself between them.**

 **"You shouldn't have said that stuff to Lupin," Ron told Harry.**

 **"He had it coming to him," said Harry. Broken images were racing each other through his mind: Sirius falling through the veil; Dumbledore suspended, broken, in midair; a flash of green light and his mother's voice, begging for mercy…**

 **"Parents," said Harry, "shouldn't leave their kids unless-unless they've got to."**

 **"Harry -" said Hermione, stretching out a consoling hand, but he shrugged it off and walked away, his eyes on the fire Hermione had conjured. He had once spoken to Lupin out of that fireplace, seeking reassurance about James, and Lupin had consoled him. Now Lupin's tortured white face seemed to swim in the air before him. He felt a sickening surge of remorse. Neither Ron nor Hermione spoke, but Harry felt sure that they were looking at each other behind his back, communicating silently.**

 **He turned around and caught them turning hurriedly away from each other.**

 **"I know I shouldn't have called him a coward."**

 **"No, you shouldn't," said Ron at once.**

 **"But he's acting like one."**

 **"All the same..." said Hermione.**

 **"I know," said Harry. "But if it makes him go back to Tonks, it'll be worth it, won't it?"**

 **He could not keep the plea out of his voice. Hermione looked sympathetic, Ron uncertain. Harry looked down at his feet, thinking of his father. Would James have backed Harry in what he had said to Lupin, or would he have been angry at how his son had treated his old friend?**

 **The silent kitchen seemed to hum with the shock of the recent scene and with Ron and Hermione's unspoken reproaches. The Daily Prophet Lupin had brought was still lying on the table, Harry's own face staring up at the ceiling from the front page. He walked over to it and sat down, opened the paper at random, and pretended to read. He could not take in the words; his mind was still too full of the encounter with Lupin. He was sure that Ron and Hermione had resumed their silent communications on the other side of the Prophet. He turned a page loudly, and Dumbledore's name leapt out at him. It was a moment or two before he took in the meaning of the photograph, which showed a family group. Beneath the photograph were the words: The Dumbledore family, left to right: Albus; Percival, holding newborn Ariana; Kendra, and Aberforth.**

 **His attention caught, Harry examined the picture more carefully. Dumbledore's father, Percival, was a good-looking man with eyes that seemed to twinkle even in this faded old photograph. The baby, Ariana, was a little longer than a loaf of bread and no more distinctive-looking. The mother, Kendra, had jet black hair pulled into a high bun. Her face had a carved quality about it. Harry thought of photos of Native Americans he'd seen as he studied her dark eyes, high cheekbones, and straight nose, formally composed above a high-necked silk gown. Albus and Aberforth wore matching lacy collared jackets and had identical, shoulder-length hairstyles. Albus looked several years older, but otherwise the two boys looked very alike, for this was before Albus's nose had been broken and before he started wearing glasses.**

 **The family looked quite happy and normal, smiling serenely up out of the newspaper. Baby Ariana's arm waved vaguely out of her shawl. Harry looked above the picture and saw the headline:**

 **EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM UPCOMING**

 **BIOGRAPHY OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

 **by Rita Skeeter**

 **Thinking it could hardly make him feel any worse than he already did, Harry began to read:**

"That's just gonna make him angrier," said Ginny. "Everyone knows that Rita Skeeter is a-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Molly snapped, eyes gleaming.

"I wasn't going to say anything bad," Ginny said with an eye roll. "But she is good at twisting the truth."

"That's an understatement."

 **Proud and haughty, Kendra Dumbledore could not bear to remain in Mould-on-the-Wold after her husband Percival's well-publicized arrest and imprisonment in Azkaban. She therefore decided to uproot the family and relocate to Godric's Hollow, the village that was later to gain fame as the scene of Harry Potter's strange escape from You-Know-Who.**

 **Like Mould-on-the-Wold, Godric's Hollow was home to a number of Wizarding families, but as Kendra knew none of them, she would be spared the curiosity about her husband's crime she had faced in her former village. By repeatedly rebuffing the friendly advances of her new Wizarding neighbors, she soon ensured that her family was left well alone.**

 **"Slammed the door in my face when I went around to welcome her with a batch of homemade Cauldron Cakes," says Bathilda Bagshot. "The first year they were there I only ever saw the two boys. Wouldn't have known there was a daughter if I hadn't been picking Plangentines by moonlight the winter after they moved in, and saw Kendra leading Ariana out into the back garden. Walked her round the lawn once, keeping a firm grip on her, then took her back inside. Didn't know what to make of it."**

 **It seems that Kendra thought the move to Godric's Hollow was the perfect opportunity to hide Ariana once and for all, something she had probably been planning for years. The timing was significant. Ariana was barely seven years old when she vanished from sight, and seven is the age by which most experts agree that magic will have revealed itself, if present. Nobody now alive remembers Ariana ever demonstrating even the slightest sign of magical ability. It seems clear, therefore, that Kendra made a decision to hide her daughter's existence rather than suffer the shame of admitting that she had produced a Squib. Moving away from the friends and neighbors who knew Ariana would, of course, make imprisoning her all the easier. The tiny number of people who henceforth knew of Ariana's existence could be counted upon to keep the secret, including her two brothers, who had deflected awkward questions with the answer their mother had taught them. "My sister is too frail for school."**

 **Next week: Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts ¨The Prizes and the Pretense.**

 **Harry had been wrong: What he had read had indeed made him feel worse.** "Told you." **He looked back at the photograph of the apparently happy family. Was it true? How could he find out? He wanted to go to Godric's Hollow, even if Bathilda was in no fit state to talk to him: he wanted to visit the place where he and Dumbledore had both lost loved ones. He was in the process of lowering the newspaper, to ask Ron's and Hermione's opinions, when a deafening crack echoed around the kitchen.**

 **For the first time in three days Harry had forgotten all about Kreacher. His immediate thought was that Lupin had burst back into the room, and for a split second, he did not take in the mass of struggling limbs that had appeared out of thin air right beside his chair. He hurried to his feet as Kreacher disentangled himself and, bowing low to Harry, croaked, "Kreacher has returned with the thief Mundungus Fletcher, Master."**

"Oh good, someone Harry can take his anger out on," Fred said.

 **Mundungus scrambled up and pulled out his wand; Hermione, however, was too quick for him.**

 **"Expelliarmus!"**

 **Mundungus's wand soared into the air, and Hermione caught it. Wild-eyed, Mundungus dived for the stairs. Ron rugby-tackled him and Mundungus hit the stone floor with a muffled crunch.**

 **"What?" he bellowed, writhing in his attempts to free himself from Ron's grip. "Wha've I done? Setting a bleedin' 'house-elf on me, what are you playing at, wha've I done, lemme go, lemme go, of- "**

 **"You're not in much of a position to make threats," said Harry. He threw aside the newspaper, crossed the kitchen in a few strides, and dropped to his knees beside Mundungus, who stopped struggling and looked terrified. Ron got up, panting, and watched as Harry pointed his wand deliberately at Mundungus's nose. Mundungus stank of stale sweat and tobacco smoke. His hair was matted and his robes stained.**

"Don't do anything rash, Harry," Arthur warned.

 **"Kreacher apologizes for the delay in bringing the thief, Master," croaked the elf. "Fletcher knows how to avoid capture, has many hidey-holes and accomplices. Nevertheless, Kreacher cornered the thief in the end."**

 **"You've done really well, Kreacher," said Harry, and the elf bowed low.**

 **"Right, we've got a few questions for you," Harry told Mundungus, who shouted at once.**

 **"I panicked, okay? I never wanted to come along, no offense, mate, but I never volunteered to die for you, an' that was bleedin' You-Know-Who come flying at me, anyone woulda got outta there. I said all along I didn't wanna do it- "**

George scoffed. "Coward."

 **"For your information, none of the rest of us Disapparated," said Hermione.**

 **"Well, you're a bunch of bleedin' 'eroes then, aren't you, but I never pretended I was up for killing meself- "**

 **"We're not interested in why you ran out on Mad-Eye," said Harry, moving his wand a little closer to Mundungus's baggy, bloodshot eyes. "We already knew you were an unreliable bit of scum."**

 **"Well then, why the 'ell am I being 'unted down by 'ouse-elves? Or is this about them goblets again? I ain't got none of 'em left, or you could 'ave 'em- "**

 **"It's not about the goblets either, although you're getting warmer," said Harry. "Shut up and listen."**

 **It felt wonderful to have something to do, someone of whom he could demand some small portion of truth. Harry's wand was now so close to the bridge of Mundungus's nose that Mundungus had gone cross-eyed trying to keep it in view.**

 **"When you cleaned out this house of anything valuable," Harry began, but Mundungus interrupted him again.**

 **"Sirius never cared about any of the junk - "**

 **There was the sound of pattering feet, a blaze of shining copper, an echoing clang, and a shriek of agony; Kreacher had taken a run at Mundungus and hit him over the head with a saucepan.**

Fred grinned. "He had that one coming."

 **"Call 'im off, call 'im off, 'e should be locked up!" screamed Mundungus, cowering as Kreacher raised the heavy-bottomed pan again.**

 **"Kreacher, no!" shouted Harry.**

 **Kreacher's thin arms trembled with the weight of the pan, still held aloft.**

 **"Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?"**

Everyone chuckled.

 **Ron laughed.**

 **"We need him conscious, Kreacher, but if he needs persuading, you can do the honors," said Harry.**

 **"Thank you very much, Master," said Kreacher with a bow, and he retreated a short distance, his great pale eyes still fixed upon Mundungus with loathing.**

 **"When you stripped this house of all the valuables you could find," Harry began again, "you took a bunch of stuff from the kitchen cupboard. There was a locket there." Harry's mouth was suddenly dry: He could sense Ron and Hermione's tension and excitement too. "What did you do with it?"**

 **"Why?" asked Mundungus. "Is it valuable?"**

 **"You've still got it!" cried Hermione.**

 **"No, he hasn't," said Ron shrewdly. "He's wondering whether he should have asked more money for it."**

 **"More?" said Mundungus. "That wouldn't have been effing difficult...bleedin' gave it away, di'n' I? No choice."**

 **"What do you mean?"**

 **"I was selling in Diagon Alley and she come up to me and asks if I've got a license for trading in magical artifacts. Bleedin' snoop. She was gonna fine me, but she took a fancy to the locket an' told me she'd take it and let me off that time, and to fink meself lucky."**

 **"Who was this woman?" asked Harry.**

 **"I dunno, some Ministry hag."**

 **Mundungus considered for a moment, brow wrinkled.**

 **"Little woman. Bow on top of 'er head."**

 **He frowned and then added, "Looked like a toad."**

 **Harry dropped his wand: It hit Mundungus on the nose and shot red sparks into his eyebrows, which ignited.**

 **"Aquamenti!" screamed Hermione, and a jet of water streamed from her wand, engulfing a spluttering and choking Mundungus.**

 **Harry looked up and saw his own shock reflected in Ron's and Hermione's faces. The scars on the back of his right hand seemed to be tingling again.**


	5. Author Update

...I LIVE!

I'm so sorry I haven't updated! Senior year is kicking my butt hardcore. But the real reason I haven't updated my stories is because I finally started my novel! Yeah for me!

Anyway, as I've said before, I will be finishing these stories and I plan to update after my graduation. Expect the stories to be infrequently updated because I'm trying to get a first draft of my book done by September. Once I get a first draft completed I will take a break and finish updating all the stories I am currently working on.

Thank you guys so much for your patience, and you mean the world to me.

Until next time!


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